The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly to a method for solving the xe2x80x9cmusic-on -holdxe2x80x9d problem associated with conference calls.
Conference call is a feature provided by many telecommunications systems. This feature interconnects a plurality of parties, called conferees, in such a way that they can all speak with one another at the same time.
The part of the telecommunications system which implements this feature is hereinafter referred to as the xe2x80x9caudio conference bridgexe2x80x9d. Typically, the audio conference bridge of a telecommunications system is incorporated into a PBX or a network switch. In some systems, however, an audio conference bridge may be provided by a device or system that is completely separate and distinct from a PBX or a network switch. No matter what part of a system the audio conference bridge is incorporated into, a conference call is typically established by connecting each conferee to the audio conference bridge through an audio channel, where each audio channel is composed of an incoming audio channel and an outgoing audio channel. The outgoing audio channel carries audio from the conferee""s terminal equipment to the audio conference bridge, and the incoming audio channel carries audio from the audio conference bridge to the conferee""s terminal equipment. As a result, during a conference call, audio travels from the terminal equipment of a particular conferee through its outgoing audio channel to the audio conference bridge which merges and/or combines the audio onto the incoming audio channels connected to the other conferees, thereby enabling the particular conferee to send audio or speak to all the other conferees at the same time.
A problem that occurs in conference calls is the so-called music-on-hold problem. This problem occurs when a conferee who has an active music-on-hold feature puts the conference call on hold to, for example, answer another incoming call, at which point the other conferees are subjected to a stream of music that continuously interferes with their audio conference. A conferee who causes such a continuous stream of music is considered to xe2x80x9coffendxe2x80x9d the conference call, and thus is referred to herein as the xe2x80x9coffending confereexe2x80x9d. And, the audio channel through which the offending conferee""s terminal equipment transmits the music-on-hold signals to the conference bridge is referred to herein as the xe2x80x9coffending audio channel.xe2x80x9d
The conventional solution to the music-on-hold problem is to drop the offending conferee from the conference call by disconnecting the offending audio channel from the audio conference bridge. The disconnect of the offending audio channel results in a permanent disconnect of the offending conferee from the communications system. Such a permanent disconnect is not always desirable because the offending conferee may still have had a useful role to play in the conference call. Moreover, later reconnecting the offending conferee may require that one of the remaining conferees take the time to re-activate the conference call feature and re-dial the offending conferee""s number, and/or seek operator assistance to establish a new audio channel between the offending conferee""s terminal equipment and the audio conference bridge.
The present invention is a method and apparatus for preventing music-on-hold signals from being transmitted from an offending conferee to the other conferees without having to permanently disconnect the offending audio channel from an audio conference bridge. Instead, the music-on-hold signals transmitted on the offending audio channel by the offending conferee are prevented from being merged onto the audio channels connecting the other conferees to the audio conference bridge, thereby preventing the offending conferee from communicating on the audio conference. The term xe2x80x9cmusic-on-hold signalsxe2x80x9d as used herein includes music and talk-radio signals generated by a radio station. When the offending conferee terminates music-on-hold, the audio transmitted by the offending conferee can then again be merged on to the audio channels connecting the other conferees to the conference bridge, thereby re-joining the offending conferee to the audio conference. Advantageously, the present invention eliminates the music-on-hold problem while enabling the offending conferee to rejoin the audio conference without operator assistance and without interrupting the other conferees.
In particular embodiments, the apparatus is an audio conference bridge that has a merging/summing subsystem, a music detector, a central processing unit, a message generator, and a touch-tone detector. The merging/summing subsystem is operable to take audio transmitted from a conferee""s terminal equipment through its outgoing audio channel to the audio conference bridge, and merge that audio onto the audio channels connecting the other conferees to the audio conference bridge. Such a merging/summing subsystem is presently part of and/or utilized by conventional audio conference bridges. The music detector is operable to monitor the audio signals transmitted from each conferee on its respective audio channel and detect the presence of music-on-hold signals thereon. This function can be performed, for example, by an energy monitor which is a standard component of conventional audio conference bridges. The central processing unit is operable to direct the merging/summing subsystem to stop combining audio from an offending conferee onto the audio channels connecting the other conferees to the audio conference bridge, thereby preventing the offending conferee from communicating on the audio conference. The message generator is operable to inform the offending conferee that he/she has been temporarily disconnected from the audio conference due to music-on-hold, and for informing the offending conferee which touch-tones to press to rejoin the conference. The touch tone detector is operable to detect touch tone signals transmitted by the conferees on their respective audio channels.
In particular embodiments, the just-described audio conference bridge is operable to provide a graphical user interface (GUI) through the terminal equipment of one or more of the conferees. The GUI, in accordance with the principles of the present invention, may include, for example, graphical representations of the conferees, graphical representations of the sound level control of the audio received from each conferee, and graphical representations of anti-music-on-hold buttons associated with each conferee. Activating or selecting the graphical representation of the anti-music-on-hold button associated with an offending conferee informs or signals the audio conference bridge to prevent audio from the offending conferee from being merged onto the audio channels connecting the other conferees to the audio conference bridge, as described above. When this happens, the audio conference bridge is operable to activate the message generator which plays a message to inform the offending conferee that he/she has been temporarily disconnected from the conference, activate the touch-tone detector which detects whether a reconnect signal has been sent from the offending conferee, and automatically reconnect the offending conferee to the audio conference when the reconnect signal is detected.
These and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the detailed description when taken with the drawings. The scope of the invention, however, is limited only by the claims.